Pilgrimage to Clarke Quay

Hi
I have added a 'My favourite Management Books' section to the blog. There is a distinct reason for this. During the years prior to my MBA and during my course I have read several management books. Most of them tend to be repetitive and state the obvious. We all understand that to succeed in business we must 'Know our Competitor'. But the real question is HOW??? - How do you know your competitor??? There are a few books that transcend from stating the obvious and explain the 'HOW'. So, I wanted to create a list of books that I think achieve this. I will continue to update this section as and when I read another great book.

Singapore is a unique place because of the way it has divided its city. All the financial firms are concentrated in one space - Raffles Place. The Indians are concentrated in Little India, the Chinese in Chinatown. The housing districts are concentrated in specific areas of the city. Everything is perfectly planned in this city. In a uniquely Singaporean way, the 'party' places are concentrated at one place - Clarke Quay.

During the course of the first semester 'Clarke Quay' increasingly dominated my life. Almost every weekend, my friends and I, made the pilgrimage to Clarke Quay. The place is an assortment of pubs and discos. A couple of them became my favourites (not because of the place but because they provided 'free entry') - PUMP ROOM and ONE NIGHT STAND. The highly provocative names were the perfect marketing gimmick. These two pubs attracted a fair share of the crowd and they music wasn't too bad.

We had a lot of fun at Clarke Quay and there were some special moments. One of them was sitting by the river with my friends till 5 am next morning - chatting about anything and everything in the world. And not for a moment did I feel sleepy. The amazing thing was there were many people like us staying at Clarke Quay till the rise of dawn. Another special moment was going on the G-MAX reverse bundy ride. This was a thrill-a-moment adventure ride where supposedly a g-force of 5 is reached. Click http://www.gmax.co.nz/index.php/pi_pageid/7 for facts about the ride. The ride itself lasted only a few minutes. But it was very exciting and made my stomach churn. I have seen people cry with fear during such rides. But Shubi, sitting next to me, could not stop laughing during the ride. The final experience is not a special experience but it is one I cannot forget. I was walking with my friend on the Clarke Quay bridge. A white woman (probably a prostitute) standing there made a move on my friend. He pointed to me and said why don't you ask him. To which she said, "Not this black one!".

I had never been called black earlier in my life. But that was how I was perceived in this foreign land. I had no intentions in induling in a racist slur. And to be honest, I have not experienced racism in Singapore. So, I just accepted what she said and moved on...

Cheers,
Suraj